20 



WILD LIFE IN CALIFORNIA 



occupied by another nature man who in some 

 accidental way set it on fire the Sunday be- 

 fore our visit. The site was in a group of na- 

 tive palm trees, the only trees of the kind in 

 the canyon. 



Less than fifty feet away was a large spring 

 of hot. water slightly charged with sulphur. 

 An excavation had been made about ten by 

 fifteen feet in dimension and two or three feet 

 in depth for bathing purposes. The water was 

 not only pleasant to drink but was remarkably 

 soft. Rubbing your hands in it yielded a sen- 

 sation as if you had used soap. There were 

 several other springs producing an abundant 

 supply of fine cold water. Altogether the sur- 

 roundings were such that we wished we had 

 blankets and some food that we might camp 

 there for a while. 



We were surprised when we looked back 

 through the canyon down upon the valley be- 

 low with the San Bernardino mountains 

 beyond, to find we had reached an elevation 

 of much greater height than we had antici- 

 pated. We both concluded that we must be 

 up as much as two thousand feet above the 

 floor of the valley. We afterward learned 

 that the elevation was 2600 feet. 



Finding a nice cool place by the side of a 

 spring, shaded by the overhanging branches 

 of a huge cottonwood, we sat down to lunch. 

 During the meal we were joined by another 

 party of trampers, a lady from the Inn with a 

 guide, "Dutch Frank," a well-known pros- 

 pector and mountaineer of the desert country. 

 Upon conversation I found the lady to be a 

 lover of nature and outdoor life, who had 

 visited almost every section of our state from 

 Oregon to the extreme south. After lurch the 

 lady declared her purpose to extend her 

 tramp still farther up the canyon. She also 

 told the guide that he could remain in camp 

 and take a rest. 



Ed and I spent some time exploring the 

 grounds and incidentally looking for coleop- 

 tera. We were quite successful in collecting 

 specimens of several species, among which were 

 a couple of very large "clickers," some ground 

 beetles, some Buprestids, as well as a few 

 Phloeodes, a strange looking bug belonging to 

 the Tenebrionidae family. Feeling that a rest 

 would freshen me up for the walk back I lay 

 down on the ground in a shady place. Ed, 

 however, continued his work collecting. 

 "Dutch Frank" was also laid out under the 

 shade of a tree and was soon fast asleep. The 

 lady tramper came back from her trip in the 

 course of an hour or so. After a little rest 

 she and the guide started back for Palm 

 Springs. However, Ed and I concluded as the 

 walk back was all down hill and the distance 

 a little less than six miles, that we could 

 cover it in two hours' time, therefore we 

 could remain to enjoy the beauties of the spot 

 at least an hour longer and still reach the inn 

 by 6 p. m. Another advantage of a later start 

 was escaping some of the heat of the day. 



After a rest and a bath in the hot spring 

 the watch showed it was time for us to leave 

 the attractive spot. It was with some reluct- 

 ance that we started off. The canyon floor at 

 this point is a half mile wide and about one 



mile at the portal. The walls of the moun- 

 tains on both sides are very steep and rise 

 several thousand feet above the bottom of the 

 canyon. The peaks where the canyon heads 

 are still higher and were covered with snow. 

 With the aid of our glasses we could see that 

 some kind of trees of the conifer or pine fam- 

 ily were growing in and about the snow sec- 

 tion. 



While waiting for the time to start we heard 

 a thundering arid crashing noise as though a 

 great rock was falling -down the mountain 

 side. It must have been a very large mass 

 that became detached judging from the noise 

 it made as well as that caused by the falling 

 of other pieces displaced by it. The occur- 

 rence seemed to have taken place quite near 

 but we could see nothing of it, not even the 

 dust that accompanies a displacement of that 

 kind. In all probability the movement took 

 place in some of the side canyons out of the 

 possibility of our vision. 



The walk down the canyon was pleasanter 

 than the tramp up. It required less effort 

 and the heat was not so great. When we 

 reached the mouth of the canyon, consulta- 

 tion of the watch showed we were making the 

 time scheduled for the trip. When we turned 

 the mountain point forming the south side of 

 the portal to the canyon we passed into the 

 shade of the great mountain mass which 

 made it still pleasanter for us, besides we were 

 soon rid of dodging the big boulders, and 

 worse, the cactus. However, we did not 

 wholly escape punishment of too close contact 

 with the latter. I bumped into a choya and 

 received several barbed spines in my leg 

 above the knee, which later required the use 

 of a pair of tweezers and considerable pulling 

 to remove. 



Down on the sands of the flat when not 

 far from the Springs, we saw some kind of 

 small animal or reptile about five or six inches 

 long, with a tail of about the same length, of 

 a grayish-white color, pass like a flash across 

 a little open space or gruunu. it went so fasi 

 we were unable to determine what it was or 

 even what it was like. Noting the clump of 

 brush it entered we prodded it out to get only 

 another glimpse of the mysterious thing. It 

 seemed to be able to run faster than a bird 

 could fly. We chased it around from bush to 

 bush until it finally escaped, without our be- 

 ing able to obtain any idea as to its form or 

 general character. Whenever it came in view 

 all that was recorded on our minds was a 

 grayish-white streak on the desert sand. Re- 

 porting the incident to Dr. Coffman at the 

 hotel, he said in all probability that what we 

 saw was the desert white rat. a troublesome 

 rodent in that section. It. invades the house- 

 holds and besides consuming eatables it car- 

 ries off any small movable articles that it. 

 comes across, things that cannot be of any 

 possible use or benefit to it. Another pecu- 

 liarity of the animal is that when it commits 

 a theft it leaves an article brought from 

 somewhere else, as much as to say "a fair ex- 

 change is no robbery." 



We entered the hotel grounds on our re- 

 turn at exactly 6 p. m., having been two hours 



